Dolly Parton R.I.P.
Dolly Parton
International Desk, Aug 25 (EFE).-
Dolly Parton, the legendary country music star and multifaceted artist, died Tuesday at age 80.
Parton, who was inducted into the Country Hall of Fame in 1999 and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2022, won 11 Grammy Awards, wrote more than 3,000 songs and sold over 100 million records. She also starred in several movies and TV shows, and was known for her business skills.
Dolly was also recognized for her philanthropic initiatives, which included, among others, a million-dollar donation to coronavirus vaccine research that supported the development of the Moderna vaccine during the pandemic and the Imagination Library, a book gifting programme, which provided children in Sevier County, Tennessee, with an age-appropriate monthly book to promote the development of reading skills.
Born Dolly Rebecca Parton on Jan. 19, 1946, in Pittman Center, Tennessee, she was the fourth of 12 children and has said in interviews that she grew up in poverty.
After graduating from high school, Parton moved to Nashville to pursue her musical career. In 1965, at age 19, she signed her first record deal with Monument Records.
Shortly after moving to Nashville, she met her husband, Carl Thomas Dean, whom she married in 1966 and remained with until he died in 2025. They had no children.
Her 1967 debut album, “Hello, I’m Dolly,” featured the single “Dumb Blonde,” about a woman who won’t be underestimated, “’cause this dumb blonde ain’t nobody’s fool.”
She also wrote many songs about her childhood, such as “In the Good Old Days” and the famous “Coat of Many Colors.” Also, in 1999 she released the bluegrass “The Grass Is Blue,” a genre that originated in the 1940s in her native Appalachians.
Among the hundreds of Parton songs, 25 reached No. 1 on the Billboard country chart, including “Jolene,” “Touch Your Woman,” “Travelin’ Man,” and “I Will Always Love You,” made famous by Whitney Houston’s massive hit, for the 1992 film “The Bodyguard.”
Among other legendary hits was “9 to 5”, written for the homonymous film, in which she starred along Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin as office secretaries who plot revenge against their chauvinistic boss.
Her prominent film roles as an actress also include “Steel Magnolias” (1989) and “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas” (1982).
“Jolene,” one of Parton’s most famous songs, was also covered by her goddaughter Miley Cyrus, The White Stripes, and Beyoncé.
Parton also played herself on various television shows, including “The Simpsons,” “Designing Women,” and Cyrus’s series “Hannah Montana.”
In 2019, Netflix released “Dolly Parton: Here I Am,” a documentary series on Parton’s life.
She also reunited with her “9 to 5” co-stars, Fonda and Tomlin, in the final episode of their Netflix series “Grace & Frankie” in 2022.
Parton also demonstrated an extraordinary talent for business. In 1985, she launched Dollywood, a theme park in Tennessee that went on to become one of the leading tourist destinations in the southeastern United States and a major economic driver for the Great Smoky Mountains region.
Her business ventures later expanded to include hotels, restaurants, production companies, and other entertainment projects.
Parton was also a published author, with best-selling titles including several memoirs. EFE
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